Rechargeable batteries may be recharged in battery charging devices, allowing the rechargeable batteries to be reused after being drained of their electrical energy. Many battery charging devices currently available have electrical contacts for directly intercoupling the terminals of a rechargeable battery with a charging circuit in the charging device.
Often, several batteries are electrically interconnected and retained together within a housing to form a battery pack. The battery pack has external terminals which electrically couple with the electrical contacts of the battery charging device. The electrical contacts are typically affixed to a printed circuit board within the charging device, on which the charging circuit is built. As the recharging device is assembled during manufacture, the battery recharging contacts are soldered directly onto the printed circuit board. The electrical contacts are positioned at openings in a housing of the charging device so as to be contacted by the batteries or battery pack when placed into the housing for recharging.
This soldering and positioning of the electrical contacts is often performed manually, and thus is a costly, labor-intensive procedure. If an electrical contact breaks, the charging device must be disassembled, the broken electrical contact desoldered from the printed circuit board, and a new electrical contact soldered onto the circuit board. The electrical contacts must again be positioned at the opening in the housing for contact by the batteries or battery pack to be recharged. Replacement of an electrical contact in this manner is a labor-intensive and thus costly procedure.